Employees work on a storage tank inside the Chevron Corp. Richmond Refinery stands in Richmond, California, U.S., on Thursday, April 24, 2014. Chevron Corp. hopes to gain city approval to finish hydrogen plant at the Richmond refinery in June or July. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Chevron won approval from Richmond City Council to upgrade its Richmond refinery on Tuesday, bringing the controversial project one step closer to fruition after years of debate over its economic and environmental impact.

Richmond City Council voted 5-0 to approve the $1 billion plan to renovate the refinery, which opened more than a century ago. The city's mayor and vice mayor abstained.

Chevron has been trying for nine years to upgrade its Richmond refinery, which opened more than a century ago. But the $1 billion project has split the community, pitting refinery employees and construction workers against residents angered by the facility's history of flare-ups and fires. Chevron, based in San Ramon, can't begin renovations just yet. First, the company must persuade a judge to lift a court order that stopped construction on an earlier version of the upgrade project in 2009.

Emissions limited

But Chevron spokeswoman Melissa Ritchie expressed satisfaction with the vote, saying long negotiations with city officials and residents had paid off. The oil company, America's second largest, agreed to limit the refinery's greenhouse gas emissions and spend $90 million in Richmond on job training programs, college scholarships and grants to local nonprofit organizations.

"It's a good example of what happens when we work with the city and the community," Ritchie said. "The outcome is a better project."

More than 80 people, from longtime residents to out-of-town advocates, took to the lectern at Tuesday's council meeting to support or oppose the project in an often boisterous session that lasted deep into the night.

Mayor Gayle McLaughlin repeatedly warned factions of the audience about outbursts and at one point sparred with Councilman Corky Boozé. The split at the meeting was most pronounced between residents who praised Chevron for its job opportunities and community contributions, such as money for schools, and their neighbors who called for tighter emissions controls and stricter rules to safeguard public health - conditions that were recommended by the city's Planning Commission this month.

"If we don't pass the Chevron modernization, Richmond is on its way of being just like Detroit," said one woman who addressed the City Council and favored approving Chevron's plan. "Have you seen Detroit lately? It looks like a war zone."

Chevron's offer to fund job-training programs and college scholarships was rejected by some as "temporary money" that would run out in 10 years.

"When that money is gone, the refinery will still be here for decades," one woman told the council. "Don't give our kids backpacks and ice cream and then give them asthma and cancer."

Chevron wanted more

The upgrade approved by the council Tuesday night after more than 2 1/2 hours of public comment is not as ambitious as Chevron once wanted.

The oil company initially planned to increase the amount of California-grade gasoline that the refinery - the state's second-largest - could produce. Construction on that version of the upgrade began in 2008. But a judge halted it the following year after ruling that the project's environmental impact report lacked important details.

The revamped project would replace the facility's 1960s-era hydrogen plant while enabling the refinery to process crude oil blends with relatively high levels of sulfur. Chevron would install additional equipment to strip out the sulfur and sell it, keeping the refinery's sulfur dioxide emissions from rising.

In a bid to win City Council approval, Chevron agreed last week to set a hard limit on greenhouse gas emissions from the refinery, restricting some of the facility's operations as a result.

Critics of the upgrade project have steadily pushed for more pollution controls and safety measures, particularly after a major 2012 fire at the refinery cast a plume of smoke over the East Bay and sent 15,000 people to hospitals, complaining of breathing problems. Richmond's planning commission this month tried to tack on new conditions called for by opponents, including a requirement to replace many of the refinery's pipes that are susceptible to sulfur corrosion. The 2012 fire started when hydrocarbons leaked from a badly corroded pipe.

Chevron objected to the extra steps, and city staff members concluded that the new conditions would have required further environmental study, delaying yet again a final decision on the project.